Tag Archives: fried coke

Well, here in Texas we are smack dab in the middle of “Fair Season.” You know, the place you go and take your kids and spend gobs of money on absolute cr@p and rides that scare the bejeezus out of you (and not because they go upside down, but because you find yourself praying that they do not fall apart while you are upside down!). However, it is not the trinkets or rides that 1st spring to mind when 99.9% of people are asked about the fair…… it is THE FOOD! Corn dogs, funnel cakes, strawberry lemonade, turkey legs, caramel and candy apples, curly fries, sausage-on-a-stick, chocalate covered bananas rolled in candy, brisket wrap and ‘the fried’s”….. the bevy of items that are rolled in batter and thrown in hot grease – fried snickers, fried twinkies, fried oreos, fried cheese, fried corn, fried coke (seriously, look it up, The State Fair of Texas has it)….. if you can fry it, the fair has it! So, in the name of all that is good, all that is diabetic and all that is TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT, I propose that “The Fair” forever be known as “The un-Fair!”

This past weekend we thought it would be fun to attend the South Plains Fair and take in a concert by Eddie Money. Yes, I am keenly aware that this dates me. If you were born somewhere after 1985 you do not know who Eddie Money (or as he calls himself, The Money Man) is; however, if you were born, say, in the ’70’s, you can sing every word of “Take Me Home Tonight.” This evening was made all the more interesting as I left work 30 minutes before expecting the babysitter which left no time for dinner (at least the kind of dinner you eat at home, the safe kind). Surely, I thought, the fair will have something I can eat, right? Um, well, WRONG!

The classic part about being a type II diabetic who was obese upon diagnosis is that not only do I need to manage my blood sugar, I need to lose weight. So, it is like all foods that enter my mouth must 1st pass through the diabetic-blood-glucose-carbohydrate filter that I employ to successfully manange my blood glucose. But, wait! I am not done there. Next, the Weight Watchers Points system kicks in. As my potential food choices pass through the diabetic-blood-glucose-carbohydrate filter, they are assigned a points value that is designed to help me lose weight. I can only eat so many points a day (right now that # is 23) and as you can imagine, it is not a very big #, hence the losing weight part! Let me just say, I have spent the past few days dousing my diabetic-blood-glucose-carbohydrate filter in Drain-O…… my food choices at the fair clogged this filter beyond recognition!

A few items did make it though the filter; somehow, they eaked by “The Fried’s”, the funnel cake, the corn dog, the candy apple, the chocolate covered banana and my favorite…..the liquid sugar over ice (aka strawberry lemonade). Total # of items to pass through the filter – 3.5. #1, the Turkey leg; #2, the sausage-on-a-stick; #3, the brisket wrap (minus the wrap); and #3.5, the sliced apple with a smidgeon of caramel on top (the missing .5 is the rest of the caramel). So, in keeping with the routine order of the process, these 3.5 champions-of-the-filter were then subjected to the assignment of their Weight Watchers points (courtesy of the Weight Watchers application on my nifty little iPhone).

1 Turkey Leg – 27 points (0 carbs)

2 Sausage-on-a-stick – 19 points (0 carbs)

3 Brisket Wrap (no wrap) – 3 points (0 carbs)

3.5 Large Apple – 2 points (25 carbs)

2 Tbsp Caramel Topping – 2 points (30 carbs)

So, for me, here is how this breaks down….. if I exercised for 1 hour and did not eat anything else all day long, I could split the items above with a willing party and not exceed my daily allowable points. Not exactly realistic and deep down in places I don’t like to talk about, the consumption of the items listed above would not qualify as an indulgence. You see, when eating items that pass the diabetic filter and Weight Watchers test while surrounded by hundreds of items I would rather be eating, the “qualifying” food choices seem like, well, qualifying food choices. So un-fair!!

Are you a fair fan? Are you a fair foodie? What are your favorites? Do you have any diabetic, weight loss friendly suggestions while navigating the fair season? Let me hear!!